DVD-RAM to DVD?

Neil Youngman [ny at youngman.org.uk]Sun, 26 Nov 2006 20:55:39 +0000

I've got some video recorded on DVD-RAM and I've spent much of today trying to
figure out how to get from DVD-RAM to a regular DVD, playable in a DVD
player. I started out thinking this was going to be simple. Just a case of
copying from one DVD to another.

It's become clear that it's far from simple. The format used for recording to
DVD-RAM is not the same as the format used for regular DVDs. I could shell
out $100+ for Windows software that might (or might not) do what I need, but
I'm not happy with that concept.

I have spent a lot of the afternoon on Google and come up with next to nothing
of use. Do the gang have any pointers to information, software (preferably
Linux software) and other resources that will help me get video from DVD -RAM
to DVD.

>
> I have spent a lot of the afternoon on Google and come up with next to
> nothing of use. Do the gang have any pointers to information, software
> (preferably Linux software) and other resources that will help me get video
> from DVD -RAM to DVD.

http://club.cdfreaks.com/ is THE place for any dvd related matters
If your dvd-drive supports dvd-ram, it should be as simple as mounting
it as removable drive, which is how Linux recognizes/handles DVD-RAM, iiirc.

HTH.
Pedja

--
To set aside my fears over the car going bang I have built an ingenious
squirrel trap from a cat basket, some elastic bands, two cable ties, a
cork and a piece of string -- Adrian Foden seeks lunch, in #ukmg

> I've got some video recorded on DVD-RAM and I've spent much of today trying to
> figure out how to get from DVD-RAM to a regular DVD, playable in a DVD
> player. I started out thinking this was going to be simple. Just a case of
> copying from one DVD to another.
>
> It's become clear that it's far from simple. The format used for recording to
> DVD-RAM is not the same as the format used for regular DVDs. I could shell
> out $100+ for Windows software that might (or might not) do what I need, but
> I'm not happy with that concept.
>
> I have spent a lot of the afternoon on Google and come up with next to nothing
> of use. Do the gang have any pointers to information, software (preferably
> Linux software) and other resources that will help me get video from DVD -RAM
> to DVD.

Read in the files from the camcorder disc:
Method 1. Use mplayer to read the DVD-RAM disc, and save the
audio and video streams separately. The dumpvideo and dumpaudio
switches make mplayer save the streams to a file named "stream.dump".
Rename this file to "audio" or "video", as appropriate:
mplayer -dumpvideo /dev/hdd; mv stream.dump video; mplayer
-dumpaudio /dev/hdd; mv stream.dump audio;
Method 2. Mount the DVD-RAM disc, copy the VRO file to the hard
disk, and split up the audio and video streams. The dumpvideo and
dumpaudio switches make mplayer save the streams to a file named
"stream.dump". Rename this file to "audio" or "video", as appropriate:
mount /dev/hdd /mnt/cdrom
cp /mnt/cdrom/DVD_RTAV/VR_MOVIE.VRO input.mpg
mplayer -dumpvideo input.mpg; mv stream.dump video; mplayer
-dumpaudio input.mpg; mv stream.dump audio;
Re-combine the audio and video streams using mplex. The "-f 8" switch
specifies a DVD-compatible output format. The "-o sidea-%02d.mpg" file
pattern means that each chapter will be saved to a separate file, with
a two-digit number in the file name (i.e., sidea-01.mpg, sidea-02.mpg,
etc.).
mplex -f 8 audio video -o sidea-%02d.mpg

On or around Monday 27 November 2006 01:45, Jimmy O'Regan reorganised a bunch
of electrons to form the message:

> On 26/11/06, Neil Youngman <ny@youngman.org.uk> wrote:
> > I've got some video recorded on DVD-RAM and I've spent much of today
> > trying to figure out how to get from DVD-RAM to a regular DVD, playable
> > in a DVD player. I started out thinking this was going to be simple. Just
> > a case of copying from one DVD to another.
>
> Have you seen this page? http://www.avtechpulse.com/opensource/dvd.html

On or around Sunday 26 November 2006 23:40, Predrag Ivanovic reorganised a
bunch of electrons to form the message:

> On Sun, 26 Nov 2006 20:55:39 +0000
>
> Neil Youngman wrote:
> > I have spent a lot of the afternoon on Google and come up with next to
> > nothing of use. Do the gang have any pointers to information, software
> > (preferably Linux software) and other resources that will help me get
> > video from DVD -RAM to DVD.
>
> http://club.cdfreaks.com/ is THE place for any dvd related matters
> If your dvd-drive supports dvd-ram, it should be as simple as mounting
> it as removable drive, which is how Linux recognizes/handles DVD-RAM,
> iiirc.

I'll have a poke around cdfreaks. Mounting the DVD-ROM is easy enough, it's
converting the format from .VRO (video recordable or some such) to .VOB
(video objects) and making sure all the associated files are right. Jimmy
O'Regan has pointed me to a page that seems to cover that bit.

On or around Monday 27 November 2006 01:45, Jimmy O'Regan reorganised a bunch
of electrons to form the message:

> On 26/11/06, Neil Youngman <ny@youngman.org.uk> wrote:
> > I have spent a lot of the afternoon on Google and come up with next to
> > nothing of use. Do the gang have any pointers to information, software
> > (preferably Linux software) and other resources that will help me get
> > video from DVD -RAM to DVD.
>
> Have you seen this page? http://www.avtechpulse.com/opensource/dvd.html

I followed the instructions on that page and it worked. It hasn't retained any
metadata, such as recording dates, but it has produced playable DVDs.